I don't know if it's because I haven't played a true JRPG in a long time or not, but the 5 or so hours I've put into this game so far seems to be the funnest 5 hours I've put into a JRPG, ever. I was bound to like it anyway simply because Studio Ghibli was doing the art/animation, but wow... the beautiful art and graphics aside, the game excels in every area. The familiar apsect scared me, but it's not really like Pokemon at all. Having a modern word to go to is nice (and rare). The ways they utitlize magic outside fo comabt is awesome, as is the ability to not only feed and strengthem your familiars but to arm them with weapnms and armor as well. About as perfect game as I can think of. Pretty deep too... 5 hours in and I still don't really know how to use items or heal while in battle... I guess you have to switch back to Oliver to do these things?

Switch to Oliver, and scroll over to Provisions. You can also go to Spells and cast healing touch.

I just got a familiar that can heal when he levels up a bit too. That adds all kinds of strategy to it. most RPG's I just wait until I'm down to about 10% health and then heal before attacking again. Here you have to take into account that you have to switch characters and the enemies are still attacking. I find myself healing earlier than I would normal heal.

Thankfully the AI is pretty on the ball about healing. However, you've got to be careful about which familiars you bring with your party. I've noticed that party member #2 doesn't use the second familiar I've given him/her, and tends to switch between the first and third because they're of a preferred genus. Sucks too, because the secpnd familiar has some awesome healing potential and great magic attack. Bear in mind that I play with all my AI on "do whatever you want" so they just act however they like. I wonder if focusing on healing would force the second familiar into more use?

Thankfully the AI is pretty on the ball about healing. However, you've got to be careful about which familiars you bring with your party. I've noticed that party member #2 doesn't use the second familiar I've given him/her, and tends to switch between the first and third because they're of a preferred genus. Sucks too, because the secpnd familiar has some awesome healing potential and great magic attack. Bear in mind that I play with all my AI on "do whatever you want" so they just act however they like. I wonder if focusing on healing would force the second familiar into more use?

I'm not sure if giving them direction takes precedence in regard to familiar selection verse the characters particular familiar affinity.... I will however say that setting com AI to favor healing makes life MUCH easier.....

Logged

In this world is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcedental entity or law? is it like the hand of god hovering above? Perhaps Man has no control even over his own will…

Meh, I overleveled anyway, most of the fighting I've been doing is cake now. I don't stop fighting til stuff is running away from me. I just got my aerial transportation now, so I've been running around to hidden areas and such looking for stuff that's killable but not gonna murder me outright, but I'm annoyed. I need a dose of courage that I can't find to finish 1 of 2 quests left on my list, the second quest being alchemy and I can't find 2 jade marbles to finish that either...

Meh, I overleveled anyway, most of the fighting I've been doing is cake now. I don't stop fighting til stuff is running away from me. I just got my aerial transportation now, so I've been running around to hidden areas and such looking for stuff that's killable but not gonna murder me outright, but I'm annoyed. I need a dose of courage that I can't find to finish 1 of 2 quests left on my list, the second quest being alchemy and I can't find 2 jade marbles to finish that either...

I'm no completionist, but I fully intend to make this platinum #3.

I'm not as far as you but I am already feeling the effects of compulsively finishing quests (a wee bit over-leveled myself...)

I'm entertaining the notion of making this my first platinum myself...

Logged

In this world is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcedental entity or law? is it like the hand of god hovering above? Perhaps Man has no control even over his own will…

One thing this game doesn't have that a lot of other JRPG's do are those long awkward pauses during conversation where sometimes characters say half of what they are going to say... stare blankly... then finish. Did Ghibli write this game too? Because the dialog seems to flow better than other Level 5 games.

No, Akihiro Hino's credited as writer on the Wikipedia page. However he might be getting better, or more likely (given I heard the Japanese VA IS very flat) Richard Honeywood and his crew did an amazing job localizing to bring everything another level above the original games on the script front.

Once you can fly, head to the cliffs north of Al Mamoon and land, then hunt down a beastie called Dinoceros.

This thing is a monster. It rapes face. It took me like 6 fights to catch one, but it appears to have a 2% catch rate, so it may take a while. I've evolved it once and at level 8 it had more attack power than my mighty mite at 37. It's astoundingly strong and worth farming for one.

So I accidentally came across an enemy called Tokotoko while fleshing out my familiars that gives retarded amounts of exp per kill (9000 per fight). I knew about an enemy that the buttheads at gefaqs just called toko that gave 2k exp, but didn't know about this guy. In about 3 hours I took my human players to 59, most of the familiars to 50ish, and the slower exp ones to their 40s. My Catastroceros is level 18, since he levels the slowest and all...I am significantly overpowered now, the dino bastard hits for 150-200 per hit, and his spells do average of 400. I broke the game....:)

I'd personally recommend a Bonehead. Its stats appear lackluster at first, but it's a later bloomer that is meant to go through metamorphosis. It has an innate strength versus all physical attacks, so though its defense first appears lackluster, it's very deceptive. Higher ranks of this monster are very good - not to mention it looks awesome.

-I almost skipped this title. I thought familiars were kind of like a pokemon gotta catch em all thing and I wasn't feeling that. If it wasn't for AgentD's Rage Against the [Delaying] Machine and Klyde's what to do until Ni no post, I probably would have skipped it but everyone's excitement for it really got me thinking (the fact that Gabe lavished praises made me go "Huh??" as well too). On Saturday I thought what the hell and bought it. I'm glad I did. Awesome game.

-Whoever said this game feels like Dragon Quest 8 a bit, I agree completely. Not a bad thing at all, but the monsters, the world, lots of little things remind me of it.

-Respawn rate =\

-I don't know anything other than what I've played, so I'll come back to the thread after I get far enough in =P

I have a question for you guys who are much further than I am. When it comes to metamorphosis, is it it better to evolve them right away or to continue leveling them up in an inferior stage? I'm only 7-8 hours in and have only evolved the Mite familiar because the game basically had me do it.

For monsters you plan on using in the long-term, it's better to wait until the cap. You're losing out on a lot of stat points changing them early. Obviously, unless you've played before, it's a bit of trial and error, so for now, at your point, the ones that are worth keeping until the end of the game are the Fairy from the forest, Sid, and the little pink Naiad from the trials. Both of them make excellent healers.

Boneheads, which I mentioned up there, are worthwhile later on, as are the Banana dudes that roam the desert.

I hear the Bighorns are good, too, but I haven't tried them, so I cannot confirm the accuracy of the statement.

Really, the rule of thumb is that anything you use works. Some are better than others, but only one or two of the Familiars are entirely unusable. Mitey works for pretty much the entire game, but will fall off in usefulness post-game. The same with the Lemur, but he has it slightly better.

Keep in mind that monsters have different growth rates too. Some have high stats early, but cap earlier. Others start with very low stats, but bloom later, over time.

Er, one last thing. If you want to be really anal, you'll notice that monsters have different signs. Monsters can "double" these signs, giving them a superior growth rate over time. You can tell if it's doubled by the slightly altered icon. There's also a "Planet" icon that is very rare; it gives the monster a slight boost in bonus damage against all of the other icon-types.